Character description: .net/topic/50449/8412759/1/#16450048
The first job
Everybody wanted to get out of the school as soon as possible. I've been congratulated for my new gold medal I'd won at a contest. Although I liked admiration and everything, I didn't like to stand out from a crowd, or to be noticed. I was very self conscious. Even when walking I had the feeling that I looked odd and tried to force my legs one in front of the other, in an attempt to walk "normal". But, being the end of school, nobody paid attention to the geek/genius that walked out of the door with his new headphones on. They were custom made by me – I'd picked every component. They were awesome. But I didn't brag. Much. I went home, and I checked my e-mail. There was a dubious-looking e-mail: "We have a job for you". I scanned it and traced it. It was sent from the US.
'Strange…', I whispered, 'Let's open it.'
I ran it in a special environment. No threats. It read:
"Greetings! We might have something that might interest you. A "job". You might be asking youself 'what job could I need'. It is no correct. We request your assistance. This "job" is, in fact, a robbery. Given your renowned skills, we were thinking you might help us with the bank's advanced security systems. One you agree, by replying to this e-mail, we will send you all the necessary information.
El Rac'hkun"
There guys were a minor group – Google can do wonders if you know how to use it. I ignored the e-mail, after doing some research. They could find someone else. The night was cold, but passed fast in a deep sleep. At school we had a test at Informatics. Easy. Everyone was running about and asking me questions before the test. Happily, I answered them. I liked to help. At home, another e-mail popped up.
"Seeing that you didn't answer, we thought we could state our offer, hoping that you would change your mind. You would get 10% out of a minimum of 1 million dollars." Now, that got my attention. "The bank in question is a federal bank – every penny is ensured. It may be of interest to you to know that this bank has the worlds most advanced security systems." Bing! "We await your reply."
'I could give it a shot..'
"Send me the details.", was my short reply.
"Certainly. The bank is located in a small town in near Washington DC. Attached you have all the necessary technical information. We suggest that you prepare yourself. You will be announced 1 day before the robbery. We could send you an extra computer if you think it is necessary."
"My computer will suffice,", I'd made the configuration myself, "thank you. I believe this will be a lucrative deal for the both of us."
They gave me to much information – half of it I could find on the Internet. I spent a couple of hours reading documents and testing methods and batch files. It was the most exciting thing I've done in months. The security system was good, but not unbreakable. Some stuff I recognized from other security systems that I've read about. I hacked the banks main server and I extracted everything I could. Security routines, maps, combinations. A week passed, and I've taken my time with the server and everything that was connected to it. It was great fun, and you'd never believe the e-mails the employees sent. I got a mail announcing me that the robbery will happen tomorrow. The guys were so kind as to convert the hour to my time zone.
The next day, I was ready to upload the new firmware – a surprise for those who worked at the bank. The time came after a very long school day.
Upload completed, announced my PC. Everything was ready. I already got 1000$ transferred to a swiss account that I opened. They were at the door. I'd taken the liberty to connect to every security camera in the bank and in a 500 meter area around it. And to the traffic lights in the same radius. I pushed a button and everything was unlocked. Halfway through the robbery, someone pushed the alarm button. With some freaky luck, they pushed the only button that I left rigged to the police station. It was my treat for them. I left them a chance. Luckily, it was a silent alarm, so the robbers didn't know I left one out. I saw police vans speeding. I inversed the traffic light colors, hoping that there would be something that would stop them. I played carefully with the lights so that there would be no accidents. Once they entered my "Danger Zone" – pretty close to the bank – I called the Rac'hkun-s:
"Start exiting. A witness called the police.", of course, I was lying. "They're 5 blocks away."
"We can get some more money! Wait a minute."
"Damn it! They're closing in."
Static.
"Get out of there – fast!"
Just in time, they got in their vans and escaped. In my excitement, I almost forgot to leave my "present" for the bank. Installing… Complete.
"Good."
The press next morning:
"Risky and hard bank robbery at the very secure.." Yeah, yeah.. "The robbers had help from a hacker, who opened all locks. This hacker has removed all its traces, but has also deleted all data from every laptop and pc in the bank. Every computer shows the letter "H" when started up. The tech team declared that this was the work of a professional hacker. Just In: camera's and traffic lights were controlled by what seems to be the same hacker. There are no camera recordings. It is a difficult case for investigators. In other news.."
"That went well", Alex said before checking his account. "New deposit: 150.000$", the computer read.
"Wow.."
He got a new e-mail:
"Thank you for your very helpful interventions. We have transferred your share of the money in the account that you provided. We will recommend you to others."
And that was his first "job".